Lake Murray of Richland, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Lake Murray of Richland, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Lake Murray of Richland lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Lake Murray of Richland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Murray of Richland — the short answer
Lake Murray of Richland, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Richland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Richland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- Richland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Richland County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lake Murray of Richland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Murray of Richland's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Murray of Richland
Each reading below is measured for Lake Murray of Richland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Murray of Richland runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Richland County, the closest normal to Lake Murray of Richland) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLake Murray of Richland sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Lake Murray of Richland is in
Lake Murray of Richland sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Murray of Richland's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Richland County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lake Murray of Richland
Every plant below cleared Lake Murray of Richland's own zone 8b and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Murray of Richland?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Lake Murray of Richland
Survey cells within 31 miles of Lake Murray of Richland checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 98 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Lake Murray of Richland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Murray of Richland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LIGHTHOUSE MARINA LPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- VERNON WELLS SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LAKE MURRAY MARINAS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ANGLERS SOUTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CORNER PANTRY 102Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LEXINGTON FAMILY PRACTICE- BALLENTINEBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- BALLENTINE COLLISION REPAIR INCBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- BALLENTINE PUBLIC WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CVS PHARMACY 7012Brownfields · 1.7 mi
- PITT STOP 14Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- KWIKWAY STORE 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- FOOD FAIR STORE 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Murray of Richland's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Lake Murray of Richland.
Total Sites
384
within ~10 miles of Lake Murray of Richland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Murray of Richland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Murray of Richland
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Murray of Richland
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Murray of Richland average
Your land is one point inside Lake Murray of Richland
Everything above resolves to Lake Murray of Richland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Richland County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Lake Murray of Richland Average
Lake Murray of Richland Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lake Murray of Richland
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Murray of Richland
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Murray of Richland's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Murray of Richland's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Murray of Richland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Murray of Richland, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Murray of Richland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Murray of Richland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Murray of Richland average
How we know this about Lake Murray of Richland
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Richland County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Lake Murray of Richland
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Murray of Richland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Murray of Richland typically lands around Mar 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 24.
When is the first frost in Lake Murray of Richland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Murray of Richland typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Murray of Richland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Murray of Richland sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 16, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Murray of Richland?
The federal record around Lake Murray of Richland is a meaningful one — 384 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (206), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lake Murray of Richland?
From about Oct 31 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Murray of Richland's scale — its 8b band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Murray of Richland's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Lake Murray of Richland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake Murray of Richland's own scale — the 3,550 acres it covers and 384 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Murray of Richland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 384 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Murray of Richland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Murray of Richland's boundary and the 3,550 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lake Murray of Richland sits in the Piedmont — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Lake Murray of Richland checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Murray of Richland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Richland County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Murray of Richland's 3,550 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Richland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Richland County
- The growing challenges every South Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Richland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Murray of Richland's 3,550 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Murray of Richland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,550 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Lake Murray of Richland-wide figureread your own land →
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